19-year-old German woman, Indian hubby die in e-way crash

Nagpur, Feb 19: The Central Bureau of Investigation said that it has arrested a former employee of Union Carbide Bhopal, who was absconding since 2016.

A senior CBI official said on Wednesday that the agency sleuths arrested S I Qureshi from Maharashtra’s Nagpur on Tuesday, who was convicted by a local court here in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy case.

The official further said that he had been absconding since 2016.

He added that the convict would be produced in a district court.

On December 3, 1984, forty tonnes of methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal

A Bhopal court convicted eight people in 2010 to two years each in jail over the gas plant leak that killed thousands of people.

The eight convicted included the Chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL) Keshub Mahindra, Managing Director V P Gokhale, Vice-president Kishore Kamdar, Works Manager J Mukund, Production manager S P Chowdhury, Plant superintendent K V Shetty and Production Assistant Qureshi.

The CBI had taken over the Bhopal gas tragedy case on December 12, 1984.

Kochi, Feb 6: A 46-year-old Thailand national was allegedly raped by two men here, following which they were arrested, police said on Thursday.

The accused hailing from a north Kerala district have been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman.

Police said the accused-- Mohammed Insaf and his friend Ansaruddin from Kondotty in Malappuram district were arrested after recording the statement of the victim.

The woman from Thailand had been a Facebook friend of Insaf for the last seven months after she enrolled her child in a school in Malappuram district.

The woman who came from Bangkok recently to visit her child and was staying in a hotel here.

When Insaf came to meet the woman, he was accompanied by his friend Ansaruddin and both allegedly raped the woman at the hotel room, police said.

All formalities including medical examination of the woman were completed, police said.

The accused will be produced before the court on Thursday, they added.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 5: One man has been arrested in connection with the death of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district here, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju said on Friday.

"One accused identified as Wilson has been arrested in connection with the case. More people are involved. The process to arrest all the accused is underway. Strict action will be taken in the matter to ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future," Raju told reporters here.

The elephant had died in Palakkad district on May 27 after it ate a pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

Raju said that the forest department has appointed three teams to probe the matter, and added that police are also investigating the incident as explosives were used.

"There may be some type of crackers inside the fruit. In such cases, blast occurs and the animal can not even drink water. The primary post mortem reports said that this case is like that. Let it be investigated," he said.

"Man and animal conflict is natural in our state as people residing close to the forests. The government gives compensation for farmers, Rs 10 lakhs compensation if a person dies in an animal attack," the Minister added.

The death of the pregnant elephant has sparked a controversy, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan terming the unfortunate death as "a painful thing" and Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar saying that the Centre has taken a "serious note" of the incident.

According to the preliminary post-mortem report, the immediate cause of the death of the female elephant was drowning followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with its mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in its mouth.